(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved collapsible and stackable material handling container of the type wherein the basket walls are collapsible upon the bottom wall of the basket with the container being stackable one on top of each other when the baskets are so collapsed. Particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in the support frame and leg members of the container.
(b) Description of Prior Art
The present invention is an improvement of my Canadian Pat. No. 1,021,274 issued Nov. 22, 1977 relating to such material handling container. In that patent, I disclose a container wherein the bottom wall and leg members are constructed entirely from welded wire members. To add rigidity to the container, it is known to utilize hollow channel members to construct a support frame on which the collapsible basket is secured. Furthermore, the leg members may be constructed from heavy gauge steel sheet material. Such support frame and leg members are, for example, disclosed in Canadian Pat. No. 905,314 issued July 18, 1984 to Stanley J. Jurasek and Canadian Pat. No. 912,997 issued Oct. 24, 1972 to Allan M. Buehler. However, a disadvantage of such support frames is that the channels present top flat surfaces to which are usually secured a wire mesh defining the basket bottom wall. Accordingly, a larger number of cavities are formed between the wire mesh and the top surface of these channel members and these collect all sorts of foreign matter, making the basket difficult to clean and inhibiting bacterial growth. Another disadvantage of such containers is that they are often damaged during handling by fork-lift trucks. It is common when turning such baskets to reorient them on the floor, to push the frame with the forks of the truck and often the fork will slip on the frame causing damage to the walls of the container or the frame itself.
A still further disadvantage of these containers is that when the walls thereof are folded on the bottom wall, the handle members which are usually provided on the front wall (see my Canadian Pat. No. 1,021,274) often become damaged or cause damage to other parts of the container side walls due to improper positioning of the handle members.
A still further disadvantage of such containers is that they are difficult to assemble and very little protection is provided to the container walls folded on the bottom wall when the container is in its collapsed position and not in use.